According to IPI’s Death Watch, 25 journalists have been killed in targeted attacks in sub-Saharan Africa in the past five years. Nearly all of these cases remain mired in impunity. Meanwhile, governments have enacted new laws and regulations to stifle independent media, with the COVID-19 pandemic providing a cover for new repression against journalists.

However, efforts by journalists’ organizations, press freedom groups, and civil society organizations to influence policymakers to prioritize the safety of journalists and uphold press freedom have had little success.

To better understand the challenges in ensuring the safety of journalists and press freedom, the International Press Institute (IPI) initiated this comprehensive research with the support of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. This exploration focuses on the causes and drivers of attacks on journalists in sub-Saharan Africa. A primary purpose of the research is also to gain a substantial understanding of avenues for advocacy at the national, regional, and global levels to influence policy and practice in relation to press freedom in the region. It focuses on gaps in advocacy and attempts to identify actors who can be approached to further the defence of press freedom in Africa, including those who are not currently engaged in this area. In addition, the research examines mechanisms to influence policymakers and officials in the region with the aim of positively impacting policy and practice vis-à-vis media freedom and the safety of journalists.

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Our work in Africa

• IPI has been engaged in Africa for the past seven decades to defend press freedom and promote quality, independent journalism. IPI has members in a number of African countries and has held its annual World Congress on the continent on several occasions – in 1968, 1981, and 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya; in 1994 and 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa; and in 2018 in Abuja, Nigeria.

• IPI’s National Committees and its members have been actively leading campaigns to champion press freedom and the safety of journalists across the continent. In addition, IPI has carried out various press freedom missions to African countries to defend press freedom and advocate for increased media freedom. Most recently, in 2019, an IPI mission visited Tanzania and met with the prime minister, information minister, parliamentarians, government officials, the diplomatic community, journalists’ organizations and civil society groups to urge the government to amend the Media Services Act, which has been rampantly used to stifle media freedom in the country, and to better protect journalist safety, among other issues.

• Furthermore, IPI has worked closely with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) as well as the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Commission (AU-ECOSOCC) on issues relating to the safety of journalists. In September 2020, IPI organized a briefing for the ACHPR’s special rapporteur on freedom of expression and access to information with selected journalists from sub-Saharan Africa. During the briefing, the special rapporteur underscored the lack of availability of data on press freedom violations and attacks on journalists on the continent for the purpose of advocating with Member States.